1138 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Nov. 



FAM. CHiETODONTIDiE. 



Gen. Ch^etodon, (Artedi) Linne 1748. 

 Teeth of the jaws slender, flexible and close like the hairs of a brush ; 

 mouth very small, slightly or not at all projecting ; body elliptical or 

 nearly orbicular ; caudal fin truncated ; 12 or 13 dorsal, 3 anal spines ; 

 dorsal spines and rays continued in a nearly uniform curve ; branchi- 

 ostegous rays six. 



Ch^etodon pr^etextatus, Cantor. 

 Plate III. 



Head as far as the occiput, gill-covers and throat black ; on the 

 chin a rounded white spot ; a white band round the throat to the 

 angle of the mouth ; a second, also encircling the throat, obliquely 

 upwards and forwards in front of the eye across the forehead ; a third, 

 narrow, backwards arched white line on the forehead between\the_ 

 eyes ; a broad white band surrounding the chest, narrowing as it ver- 

 tically ascends between the preopercle and the eye, and continues to a 

 little in front of the first dorsal spine ; body and the scaly part of the 

 dorsal and anal fin light greyish brown ; each scale minutely dotted 

 with black, and on the body with a short central dark bar, reflecting a 

 series of parallel lines ascending obliquely backwards ; dorsal spines 

 vermilion, their membrane light greyish brown ; margin of the soft fin 

 black (the very point of the rays colourless,) beneath bordered by a 

 narrow white line, under which a broad vermilion band, gradually 

 widening backwards ; in some the latter is placed immediately under 

 the black margin, and longitudinally divided by a narrow white line ; 

 on the anterior half of the caudal a vertical vermilion band, next a 

 narrower black, behind which the rest of the fin is white ; anal spines 

 light brownish grey, membrane black ; margin of the soft part black 

 (the very point of the rays colourless,) bordered above by a broad 

 crescent-shaped vermilion band ; ventrals black ; pectorals brownish or 

 blackish at the root ; the rays brownish white, membrane transparent. 

 Iris milky white or buff. 



D 12/26, 27 or 28, C 17f, A 3/20, 21 or 22, V 1/5, P 15 or 16, 



Br. VI. 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang. 



Total length : 5-f inch. 



